


Ashes And Wine

by Meggnog



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Coming Out, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Swearing, There'll be a lot of that, This is my first les amis fic don't judge me pls, Unrequited Love, What else is new, idk I'm not good with tags, pining!grantaire, prepare yourselves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-03-14 08:59:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3404834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meggnog/pseuds/Meggnog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love is a strange thing. </p><p>Grantaire loves Enjolras and Enjolras loves his work. </p><p>Eponine loves Marius and Marius loves Cosette. </p><p>Combeferre loves Courfyerac and Courfyerac loves Combeffere. </p><p>Joly, Bossuet and Musichetta all love each other. </p><p>And no one loves Montparnasse. Because he's a dick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Vodka Cures All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From: Grantaire To: Eponine  
> I'm holding a meeting of the balls deep in unrequited love club tonight. Care to join?
> 
> From: Eponine To: Grantaire  
> You're a dick.
> 
> From: Eponine To: Grantaire  
> I'll be over in 5.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first les amis fic and I hope you enjoy it!

"Grantaire! Are you even listening!?"

"Oh shit" Grantaire whispered. He hadn't been listening at all. He'd been drawing dicks on Jehan's arm. 

"Yeah..Yeah" He looked at Enjolras, trying to blag his way out of an argument. "Something about trans representation in the media being important?"

"That was twenty minutes ago." The leader replied icily. "Anyway, to get back to what I was saying..."

Grantaire tuned out again at this point, and turned to continue his doodling, but Jehan yanked his arm away. 

"Sorry" He smiled apologetically, holding up his empty bottle as an explanation. 

"Get me one?"

"You've not even finished that one!"

"Fiver says I will have by the time you're back. In fact, fuck it, lets do some shots!" Grantaire grinned. 

Jehan rolled his eyes before walking off to the bar. Grantaire took out his sketch pad and started to draw Marius, who was leaning against the window, daydreaming. He added a thought bubble and drew a stunningly beautiful Cosette in it, with a halo round her head and flowers in her hair. 

"That's really good, R" 

"Fuck!" Grantaire dropped his pencil. "Don't sneak up on me like that, Jeha- oh." He turned round to see Enjolras standing behind him. "You come to scold me for not listening earlier?"

"Please" the younger man scoffed. "I know better than to waste my time on that." He paused, and reached for Grantaire's sketch pad. "Can I...?"

"I uh, I guess" R didn't really think his answer through and then it was too late because Enjolras is flipping through the pages and oh shit maybe this wasn't such a good idea. 

"These are wonderful.." Enjolras whispered, to himself more than anything, admiring a watercolour painting of Musichetta in a deep purple dress - the colour of which was so entrancing to R he had to try to replicate it on paper the minute he saw it . Grantaire found himself questioning if his friend is feeling quite well - first he lets his apathy in the meeting slide, and now all of a sudden he wants to look at Grantaire's artwork? This isn't like him.

Grantaire suddenly became aware Enjolras had stopped and was staring at a particular page, convincing him he's about to get a rant about his particular use of oil paints on this piece somehow supports capitalism, when he caught sight of what is actually on the paper. 

Oh balls. 

It's a portrait of Enjolras.

Originally supposed to be a still life image of him at a rally, whilst painting it R had let his imagination run wild and had drawn him standing atop what appeared to be a barricade - the artist himself wasn't actually sure if that's what it was - and holding a red flag, which was a combination of symbolism and the fact that Grantaire had spent 2 hours trying to draw Enjolras' right hand and had eventually given up and drew it bundled up in fabric instead. 

"This is.." Enjolras began then trailed off. Grantaire opened and closed his mouth, unable to speak. His mind was only able to form one coherent thought of 'ShitI'dforgottonthatwasinthereImeanttoripitout'

"This is.." Enjolras repeated, and at this, R came to his senses. He snatched the book away from the other mans hands and babbled:

"Yeah, look Enj, I'd better go, sorry for not listening and stuff in the meeting before, but really, I've had too much to drink and I'd better go home" This was complete bullshit, as both men knew quite well - Grantaire had only had 3 beers, which was nothing to him. Nevertheless he grabbed his coat without another word and ran down the stairs of the Musain, and out the door into the icy winter air. 

He took out his phone and began typing furiously, cursing himself for his ridiculous exit.

From: Grantaire To: Eponine  
I'm holding a meeting of the balls deep in unrequited love club tonight. Care to join? 

From: Eponine To: Grantaire  
You're a dick. 

From: Eponine To: Grantaire  
I'll be over in 5. 

R smirked as he slid his phone back into his pocket and let himself into his apartment block - about which he was grateful for two things. One: it was literally five minutes away from the Musain and Two: He only lived on the second floor. 

Five minutes later, and, true to her word, Eponine was hammering on the door. R swung it open and immediately was buried in a hug. When he was finally released, Eponine grinned and held up a bottle.

"Vodka." She beamed. "Now, what happened this time?"

Several glasses of vodka later, Grantaire was still pouring his heart out. 

"And the look on his face when he saw the drawing...I bet he was totally creeped out, Ponine, he's gonna think I'm completely gay for him and that I'm kind of obsessed!"

"But you /are/ completely gay for him and kind of obsessed" 

"Not helping" 

"Sorry" She smiled. Grantaire sighed and leant back on her, and she began running her fingers through his hair. 

"It's not /fair/" He wailed. "Why do I have to love him so ridiculously much, and he barely even tolerates me? I must've been a right cunt in a past life to deserve this." 

"You're a right cunt in this life, R"

"Again, NOT HELPING."

"Well, I would try to offer some kind of advice, but as we both know I may be even more pathetically pining than you. Did I tell you I asked Marius to that charity ball Enj is making us all go to?"

"No?"

"Yeah. Well, I was really just meant it as friends, and I didn't even technically get to the asking."

"How so?" Grantaire asked, puzzled. 

"I asked him if he was going to it, he said yes, and right when I was about to invite him to go with me and put my foot right in it he showed me on his phone what dress Cosette is wearing and proceeded to babble on about how beautiful she is." 

R sat up. "Oh, Ponine, I'm sorry..." He said, as he pulled her into a hug. 

"Eh, it's fine." The young girl shrugged, leaning her head onto Grantaire's shoulder. "At least we still have each other, right?"

"And vodka"

"And vodka."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I know the first chapter isn't great, but they'll be much better once the plot fully starts to develop. Please leave a review so that I can improve my writing and thank you again for reading! 
> 
> The title is the same of a song I love by A Fine Frenzy, the lyrics don't really relate to this fic but the title does so I just had to use it.
> 
> (Special thanks go to my friend Casey for getting me more obsessed with Les Mis to the point where I had to write a fic)


	2. Assumptions And Misunderstandings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Wait, who the fuck would be calling me at-" His eyes wondered in horror as he grabbed his phone. "Oh no. Oh shit."
> 
> Enjolras   
> Missed call - (16)   
> Unread messages - (12) 
> 
> "Fucking hell." He murmured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2, at last. I know I said it's be up a lot sooner but I've been swamped with other work for a while. Anyways, that's all done with now so this fic should get updated a lot more often from now on.

"Get up you lazy shit!"

"Ughhhhhhhh"

Grantaire woke up to a t shirt in the face thrown by Eponine who was being unreasonably loud oh my god. 

"What the fuck is your problem?" He grumbled, yanking off the shirt he slept in to replace it with the one that had just hit him in the face. 

"My problem, dearest R, is that it's almost noon and you've only just woken up and we both have things to do." She replied from the kitchenette where she had retreated to to make coffee. Despite having drunk the same amount as Grantaire the night before, Eponine was already up and dressed and probably had been for hours, R guessed. 

Damn her and her immunity to hangovers. 

"We do?" Grantaire asked confusedly. 

"Well, I've got an unruly 10 year old to look after, and you have an art assignment to complete. Unless I'm a terrible friend who doesn't know you at all after 15 years and you've actually done it in advance?" Grantaire grinned sheepishly, confirming Eponine's original suspicions. "That's what I thought." She smirked. "Oh, and an additional answer to your earlier question, I'm not best pleased to have been woken up by your phone going off at 7am, and every 20 minutes since. Sort it out or it goes out the window, and you follow suit" 

R rolled his eyes at his friends threats and reached over to the coffee table to grab his phone. He then paused as a thought it him. 

"Wait, who the fuck would be calling me at-" His eyes wondered in horror as he grabbed his phone. "Oh no. Oh shit."

Enjolras   
Missed call - (16)   
Unread messages - (12) 

"Fucking hell." He murmured. 

"Finally remembered what you were using vodka to forget?" Eponine questioned. R nodded miserably before turning his phone off and tossing it onto the armchair across from him. 

"Always tough." She sympathised. "But as much as I'd love to stay here and mope with you all day, I really have to go." She kissed R on the cheek before heading towards the door. "Drink your coffee. Don't forget to eat. And do your fucking art assignment." She opened the door and stepped out, before popping her head back round. "Oh, and speak to E. The longer you leave it, the worse you'll feel." 

3 hours, 7 cups of coffee and 2 abandoned canvases later, R had decided that his art assignment wasn't getting done today. Drafted, he reached for his phone and switched it on. 

Enjolras   
Missed Call - (9)   
Unread messages - (4) 

He ignored them and typed out a quick text. 

From: Grantaire To: Bahorel   
Boxing? 

It took less than a minutes for his friend to reply. 

From: Bahorel To: Grantaire   
no chance. at the musain, e's here and wont shut the fuck up about u. dont know what u did but come fix it before i punch him out. 

Bollocks. 

Seeing there to be no other solution, Grantaire conceded defeat and set off for the Musain. 

When he arrived, R had expected too see just Enjolras and Bahorel, but also found Marius (who was sat on a tabled piled with work for law school) and Cosette (who was braiding Enjolras' hair) 

The fearless leader himself was babbling, as Cosette hummed soothingly and Bahorel pretended to listen. 

"I mean, God, what if I've offended him, or he thinks I don't like his art, or-" At this, Grantaire cleared his throat and Enjolras' head snapped up. 

"R!" He exclaimed, standing up and startling his sister, who removed her hands from his hair. "A word?"

Grantaire reluctantly agreed, and they shuffled to other side of the room where the bar stood, closed as it was only afternoon. 

"Look, I hope I didn't give you the wrong idea yesterday, it's just-"

"No, I get it, I shouldn't have drawn you without your consent or whatever, I won't do it again and-"

"No! No, no. Grantaire." E placed his hand on the smaller mans shoulder, causing him to freeze. "I don't mind, honestly. I was just - taken aback I guess. It was a wonderful drawing." 

R gaped back at the man, unable to respond. 

"I just wanted to make sure I hadn't offended you." Enjolras continued, and R shook his head firmly. "And to ask...would you mind designing some leaflets for the rally next month? It's our biggest of the year, and I want everything to go perfectly, I mean, Courf offered to do it, but I don't really trust him to draw something appropriate, and well, it can't be denied you're amazingly talented." E gave a small smile. "So...what do you say?"

"Um, yeah, sure. Of course I will." R replied, not entirely sure what had just happened. 

"Thanks." Enjolras beamed back, turning on his heel and heading back towards their other friends. 

God, he was so in love with that idiot. 

R really needed to get out of here. 

"OI! DICKHEAD!" He called across the room. Bahorel looked up. 

"Know your name don't you?" R smirked back, crossing over to him. "What about boxing now?" 

"Alright mate. I'll have to go home for a bit, I'll meet you at the gym in say half an hour?" 

"Wait." Cosette cut in. "Are you guys going boxing?" The boys nodded. "Alright if I join?"

"You box?" Grantaire asked, incredulously. 

"Oh god yes." Marius responded, looking up from his work for the first time since R had entered the Musain. "And I wouldn't sound so doubtful if i were you, R. I did the first week were were dating and ended up with a broken nose as her way of proving it."

"You told me that was from a bar fight, you lying shit!" Bahorel exclaimed. Marius looked sheepish. "I spent three weeks going back to that bar with Courf trying to find the git who did it! I can't beli-" He cut himself off and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Cosette, R, I'll see you at the gym in half an hour. Marius, go home and rest, you need a break. E-" Bahorel looked at the blond who was scribbling on his notepad, no doubt planning the speeches he would give les amis at the meeting that night "Don't drink too much coffee." 

And with that, the 4 friends left to go home and collect their gym clothes; or in Marius' case, to sleep, leaving Enjolras alone to plan yet another meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know a not a lot happens in this chapter, but the plot will pick up in the next one and more characters will be introduced. I hope you enjoyed it and please leave a comment ^_^


End file.
